This invention relates to the textile industry and the thread handling art and more specifically to an apparatus and method for facilitating the threading and unthreading of open ended combs.
Normally, threads are supplied on large bobbins at standard spacings. In many applications the standard spacing at which the threads are provided is not the same as that used in the machinery to make the final product. For example, the threads may be provided by the mill at 16 threads per inch and the manufacturing apparatus may receive the threads at a spacing of 20 per inch.
When the threads are to be placed in open ended combs which have either a smaller or larger spacing than the standard, it has been necessary to thread the combs by hand. One specific example is in the tape making industry where threads are incorporated into the tape. In this specific example, the thread spacing in the tape is smaller than that at which the threads are supplied by the mill. It has been necessary for the open ended combs used by the tape making machinery to be hand threaded. This is an extremely time consuming process as the threads are very small and the comb spacing, which may be on the order of 20 threads per inch, is very small and consequently the threading operation significantly increases the down time of the tape making machinery.
Aside from this specific example in the tape making industry, there are many textile applications in which open ended combs are used. In these applications the same difficulty with respect to hand threading the open ended combs exist.